Chapter 4

Friday, December 21^st 2012, 7:27 PM

Daniel wouldn't bawl or beg because he knew there was no point. He had been on the opposite side of this scenario too many times. Two big guys, two big guns, one shovel, one out of the way spot, one deep hole, and last but not least ... one soon to be dead body to put in the hole. As it turned out, Daniel was going to be the body this time. He knew better than to try and bribe his executioners. They wouldn't take his money even if he had some; he had trained them well.

"We really hate the way this has to go down, Danny." Maurice was the smaller of the two, which meant he was only six foot five and three hundred pounds, and had apparently been designated as the speaker.

"Me too, Maury." Daniel laughed between pants as he dug his own grave, which was going a lot faster than many of the marks he had forced to perform this particularly onerous task. One mark really stuck in his mind. "You remember that accountant that was skimming off the stripper income?"

"The slob that weighed almost five hundred?" Maurice started laughing almost immediately, remembering how pathetically he had cried and whined when they drove him out to the pasture and then how loudly he complained while he took almost seven hours to dig a four foot deep hole. "Fuck, how many times did he shit himself?"

"I think it was four, and the idiot wanted a shower and change of clothes." Daniel grinned and shook his head. With a sigh he tossed the shovel out of the hole and turned to look at his friends. "Did he say how he wanted it done?"

"He was nonspecific, just said make sure your ass was under the dirt with some bullets to keep you company." Maurice looked like he wanted to be anywhere else right then.

"Okay, I would prefer fast and painless if at all possible." Daniel grinned and looked hopeful. The two executioners glanced at each other and shrugged. Turning back to Daniel they nodded. "Great! Maury, take care of that pretty little gal of yours, and Gabe you don't let those boys get too far out of line, ya hear?"

Both men nodded and looked like they might be tearing up, so Daniel turned his back and said over his shoulder. "Watch each other's backs, you know Stan'll be waiting for you guys to screw up."

Grunts of acknowledgement were followed by two simultaneous reports from the two large caliber weapons in the two large men's hands. The two slugs actually hit the exact same spot on the back of Daniel's skull; they bounced off each other and did little more than shred his scalp and a little bit of bone. He was stunned from the impact, however, and fell face first into his own grave where seconds later Maurice and Gabe began covering him with dirt. By the time he was aware again he was already suffocating under four and a half feet of dirt.

Friday, April 17^th, 6:38 AM

Brendan Danvell III came from money, a LOT of money, something he seldom let anyone forget. He considered himself a playboy who could get any woman he wanted, which, if truth be told, wasn't far from the truth. The swaggering arrogance and the fact that he was such a colossal ass rubbed Maggie raw from the instant she met him. It didn't help that he grabbed her ass seconds after shaking her hand. But he was possibly the most powerful member of Bulwark, and that's why he was Captain of the Guard. Completely indestructible and immune to all harm, and almost everyone at Bulwark had tried like HELL to hurt him, he could survive anywhere, including the vacuum of space, with no ill effects. He was also super-fast, not nearly as fast as Speedfreak, but still impressively fast. And to round that all out, he could create cue ball sized globes of thermite plasma, which he could throw at targets with decent accuracy.

Maggie was sure Detective Auger was going to shoot him at least once, especially when his custom built Camaro pulled up and broke the crime scene tape. He then got out of the car and strolled around the crime scene, touching and moving rocks, rubble and body parts until a CSI tech started screaming at him. Auger stalked toward him with narrowed eyes, gritted teeth and clenched fists. She stopped a few feet behind him where he was basically telling the tech to shut up, and growled, "Excuse me, you're screwing up our crime scene."

Turning, Brendan looked the Detective over quite thoroughly, made a 'not bad' face and grinned at her. "Don't you worry about it, sweet thing, this is out of your league. But I would love a grande soy decaf macchiato with extra foam."

"And I would like a super that wasn't so fucking arrogant that he thinks he is above the laws of this city," Detective Marilyn Auger snarled at him, her eyes literally sparking as she glared and continued ranting. "I would also like it, sweet thing, if you would get the FUCK OUT OF MY CRIME SCENE BEFORE I HAVE YOU ARRESTED AND THROWN IN THE TOWER FOR IMPEDING AN ONGOING POLICE INVESTIGATION!"

Auger's voice had gotten louder and louder until there was no doubt she had power, though her eyes gave that away first. Brendan looked nonplussed. He had probably never had a woman tell him off before. Maggie's eyes bugged out behind her goggles with the effort it took to not laugh and Vickie suddenly disappeared only to return grinning with red eyes a dozen seconds later. Brendan looked for all the world like he might actually hit the Detective, until a rumbling crash that could be heard from eight blocks away drew everyone's attention, as suddenly the skyline was missing a forty story building of shiny glass and steel. Police radios started squawking urgently, and the Bulwark phones all rang at once. Maggie was already flying as fast as she could toward the cloud of dust thrown up by the destroyed building.

"Class 5 disturbance at the following location" was all that was said when she answered her phone. She received a GPS tracking map showing her location and the disturbance's location, as well as all other Bulwark agents in the immediate area. Cresting the line of buildings adjacent to the fallen one less than five minutes later, Maggie was treated to a scene dominated by terror and panic. Choking clouds of dust billowed through the area, and she saw what looked like a teenage boy standing in the center of it all, facing off against Brendan the Ass, and Vickie crouched behind ... Blastwave? Maggie blinked, wondering if the clouds of dust were screwing up her goggles in some weird way.

Friday, 6:30 AM

"I wish she would stop smiling like that!" Allen grumbled for the fifth time since they started their trek to The Zoo. Blake had made sure to hide his daughters at a secondary hideout, ensuring that they knew where all the hidden exits and security cameras were, before wrapping Prey up in a zippered hoodie and a blanket then pushing her along the sidewalk in a wheelchair. She seemed to be enjoying herself if the not-as-creepy-as-Allen-claimed smile was any indicator, and she wasn't screaming for help or anything, so Blake was content to let her smile and look around the city as much as she wanted. He even said as much to his partner in crime, who had been lagging several feet behind, "Yeah, I guess you're right, but she just ... she scares me dude..."

Blake opened his mouth to reply but someone walked in front of the wheelchair, getting smacked in the shin in the process. "Hey watch out! You okay, kid?"

"She's laughing at me." The teenage boy scowled, as his eyes narrowed at Prey. Blake's forehead wrinkled as he looked at the kid who was getting angrier by the second. He was suddenly curled up in a crater of asphalt and concrete, and heard the tearing, popping, screaming metal sound of the wheelchair as it was crushed right under him. Prey never even blinked. She just lay there looking at him right up until the pressure lifted and the neural disruption collar crumbled. Then she grabbed the back of his head in both hands and jerked herself right up to his face and ... kissed his cheek. He blinked, then willed his face to change a second before leaping out of the three foot deep crater as Blastwave.

Allen was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't unusual since he was not even remotely equipped for close combat. The teen was standing with his back to Blake, laughing at the crowd of screaming pedestrians, as one or two would suddenly implode and spray the surrounding people in blood and other fluids. There was no doubt in Blake's mind who was responsible, so he grabbed the teen's chin in his right hand and placed his left on the back of the kid's head and just twisted. The sound of vertebrae shattering was like a gunshot. Blake dropped the body. He wasn't happy about killing the kid, but his conscience was perfectly fine with it, since the boy seemed to be a superpowered psychopath. He started a bit when arms wrapped around his waist from behind, and he was ready to start elbowing whoever had snuck up on him, until he saw Prey's mostly shaved head appear under his left arm.

He planned to say something, but she cocked her head and pointed at the teen's body. It was starting to stand up, as the neck twisted and straightened, until his head was sitting properly on his shoulders again. Then the teen turned and glared at Blake, who had just enough time to notice the kid was actually a young man probably no older than twenty one, before the ground closed up around him and Prey again. It didn't hurt, his invulnerability made sure nothing physically hurt, but it was sudden and jarring. Prey was crushed against his back and giggling, and Blake was ready to admit that she creeped him the hell out. A second later the pressure was gone and people were screaming louder. Standing slowly this time and peeking over the edge of the crater, he saw the young man stalking through the crowd, making people implode. It had taken a lot longer than Blake was proud of, but he finally recognized the kid for who he was; maybe not the face, but absolutely the power and lunacy.

"I fucking hate regenerators!" he snarled, before leaping out of the hole and running full tilt at the super psychopath. The snap of multiple bones splintering on impact was quickly drowned out by The Breaker's agonized screams, but Blake wasn't about to call it a day. He proceeded to pound the smaller man with every bit of superhuman strength in his body; bones snapped like dry twigs and the screams finally choked off as his ribcage collapsed completely. Staggering to his feet and away from the pulped body, Blake was heading for Prey, who was peeking just over the lip of the crater, when he was crushed into a kneeling ball and a voice screamed from behind him, "You're gonna pay fucker!"

Blake had a few seconds of free movement before the crushing force was reapplied, and he heard a horrendous grinding screech from his left. He was barely able to move his head toward the sound. It looked to him as if something took a large bite from the bottom floors of a nearby skyscraper. Again the force disappeared from around him and ten stories up the already collapsing building another section of steel and glass crumpled like paper. The building canted suddenly and then it was falling right on top of Blake. Tons of glass, steel and cement crashed into Blastwave, and were almost instantly blown away from him by the massive shockwave that exploded from his indestructible body. Blake dashed through the billowing dust and falling debris as fast as he could, scanning for The Breaker, but he ran smack into someone else.

"Areyoufuckingkiddingmeeeeeeeeee!" Speedfreak screamed, after picking herself off the ground where the impact had tossed her. "YouaresogoingtoTheTowerthistimeasshole!"

"My luck blows..." he grumbled. Blake was actually happy to see her. It meant that he could grab Prey and let Bulwark deal with The Breaker. "I didn't do this, he did!"

She didn't turn where he pointed, so she couldn't see the hateful, snarling face that was running at them. Shaking his head, Blake simply turned on his heel and started running. He knew Speedfreak had her own invulnerability. She had tackled him at full speed plenty of times, so she could deal with the super psychopath. The crunching, grinding of the asphalt and concrete being crushed behind him wasn't a surprise; the scream of pain was. Spinning, he could see Speedfreak curled up on her side clutching what looked suspiciously like a broken arm, and The Breaker standing over her with possibly the most insane smile Blake had ever seen. As he watched, Speedfreak started slowly curling into a tighter ball, screaming the whole time. Grabbing a piece of cement covered rebar, Blake charged at The Breaker who looked up at the super criminal just in time to have the bar rammed into his face.

Blake didn't give The Breaker's screams a second thought as he scooped Speedfreak up off the ground and started running, silently wondering why he was helping her.

Friday, 6:44 AM

Vickie wanted to puke more than anything else. She had gotten used to almost never feeling pain because of her kinetic invulnerability, but suddenly being crushed like that had no actual speed or movement to trigger her ability; and she could feel the broken bones in her arm scrapping against each other and it made her want to vomit in the worst way. Of course Blastwave running wasn't exactly a smooth ride, more like a jarring, teeth-rattling dirt bike ride through a war zone, but she couldn't complain too much since he DID just save her. The screams of pain she could hear fading behind them suddenly became screams of rage and the sounds of crushed steel, glass and concrete started popping up all around them, as Blastwave zigged and zagged around cars and chunks of skyscraper.

"Fuck!" Blastwave grumbled before leaping sideways over a half crushed car, impressing Vickie with his reflexes and dexterity. She normally chased him at hyper speed so hadn't noticed before. He went over the hood of the car like a pole vaulter, landing on his back. The impact of his back hitting the destroyed sidewalk caused a small pulse of power to ripple out of him and right into her. And then she puked at least two of the six breakfast burritos she had inhaled before reaching the crime scene across his shoulder, neck and back. She was in such pain she couldn't even feel embarrassed about it, though she was certain that would come later. As far as she could tell he didn't even flinch as he settled her against the crushed car before ripping off what was left of his t-shirt and wiping his neck and chest off, then tearing off the legs of the jeans he was wearing.

"Where's your suit?" she mumbled through her fist as she tried to wipe the vomit off her mouth with little success.